Quiet Power

In early 2005, when the board of
Hewlett Packard
sent then-CEO Carly Fiorina packing, women in Silicon Valley didn't exactly smash their LaserJet printers in protest. But there was a widespread concern that the demise of the Carly Era might make it harder for other female candidates to prevail in races for top jobs--to become "power players"--particularly in Silicon Valley.

That's why I went to chat with Judy Estrin.

Estrin has been a Silicon Valley star since 1987, when the first company she helped launch, Bridge Communications, went public. Since then, she has co-founded three more startups. She featured on magazines' "power" lists when she held the top wizard job--chief technology officer--at networking giant
Cisco
.

But genuine power is subtler than fancy titles and big market caps. Estrin knows how to pick her spots, and that's why her story holds some important lessons for anyone--but particularly women--who aspire to helping shape the future.

Estrin, 51, has wielded influence at two critical points in corporate life: She has started companies, helping to change the direction of technology. And she has overseen companies, by becoming a major force on corporate boards. These days, she sits on the boards of
Disney
and Federal Express, along with two private companies. (She has also served on boards for Rockwell and
Sun Microsystems
.)

Getting the chance to start companies and to serve on boards starts with credibility. In a community where really smart engineers are reveredand everyone else makes sure not to offend them undulyEstrin can compute with the best of them. As a UCLA undergraduate, she majored in mathematics and computer science. After college, she picked up a master's degree in electrical and computer engineering from Stanford.

That kind of technical expertise meant that Estrin has commanded respect without clamoring for it. Among those she impressed early in her career was James Barksdale, at the time chief operating officer at Federal Express. When his boss,
FedEx
founder Fred Smith, was looking for a new board member for the Memphis-based company, Barksdale nudged him to talk to Estrin.

"Fred wanted to add diversity but he didn't want a token woman," she recalls. "He wanted to add other capabilities"--particularly someone with technology credentials.

Still, when Estrin joined the FedEx board in 1989, she couldn't have felt more out of place. "I was 20 years younger than the other board members, the only woman, and the only Californian!" She tried wearing conservative business-style suits but the airlines conspired against her. Estrin arrived for her second board meeting in Memphis late one Sunday night. Her luggage did not. The next morning, Estrin strode into the boardroom in an anti-power suit: jeans, a Memphis tee shirt from the hotel gift shop and sneakers.

The directors stared. Then one board member laughed. "Is that how they dress in California?" he teased Estrin.

Over the years, Estrin realized that learning to listen was one of the big lessons that a CEO could glean from serving on a corporate board. "If you get on a board, you've had a lot of success--so people have a sense that you should know all the answers," Estrin notes. But board members who are honest with themselves realize they don't have any ready-made solutions. They may not even know much about the company's industry. The best board members listen first--wrap the problems into their own experience--then offer guidance. "Listening doesn't mean you keep your mouth shut," Estrin adds.

Serving on a board in an industry outside your expertise is also a jarring reminder that the world is bigger than your own P&L. "I was always selling technology. Sitting on the boards, I got a different look at my customers," Estrin says.

Then there's learning to get along--or, in corporate-speak, learning to "craft consensus." CEOs expect to call the shots. But on a board of superheroes, no one is in charge--not even the chairman. Estrin declines to share any gossip about the battles she witnessed on the Disney board over the past two years. But learning to be part of a consensus is humbling and inspiring for executives of both genders, she says.

Those skills--listening, seeing the world from different perspectives, building consensus--risk sounding like stereotypical "female" traits. Estrin shrugs impatiently at the suggestion. "There are a lot of women in business who go out of their way to act like male stereotypes. There are strong men who have those qualities."

The bottom line: Getting power and keeping power is one of those classic yin-yang maneuvers. You get power when you prove to the world you can get things done--say, by inventing a product, designing a marketing campaign, or starting a company. The more credit you grab, the more glory you get.

You only get to keep power, however, when you learn to play well with others.